


I Ain't Gon' be Worried with You

by nimrudivory



Category: Agatha Christie's Poirot (TV), Poirot - Agatha Christie
Genre: Breakfast, Gen, New Year's Day, Superstition
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2019-02-26 08:39:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13232109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nimrudivory/pseuds/nimrudivory
Summary: On New Year's Day, Poirot and Hastings are expecting a breakfast guest who will help them get the new year off to a good start.





	I Ain't Gon' be Worried with You

“The doorbell, if you please, Hastings! I will bring in the pot of chocolat. Make haste, my friend!”

Already in the hall of our flat, I smiled as my friend Poirot straightened the cups and saucers laid out on the table in our small dining room. Neatness and order were as always his passions and a crooked teaspoon was never permitted to sully the pristine linen cloth. 

“Morning, Hastings.” Under his moustache, Inspector Japp’s habitually lugubrious countenance was lightened by a brief but actual smile as he stepped across our threshold. “Got the doings, like you asked for.” 

“Spot on, old chap, much appreciated.” I relieved our guest of his parcels and took his hat and coat. 

“Ah, the good Japp! Bonne annee, my friend!” 

“Happy New Year to you, Poirot.” The Inspector sighed in satisfaction as I poured him a cup of tea—Poirot preferring his hot chocolate—and spread the freshly-baked rolls he had brought onto a plate. “Trust Scotland Yard to know which bakers had their ovens fired up this morning. There won’t be too many shops open today.” 

Poirot shook his head indulgently as I unwrapped Japp’s other gift—a small piece of coal folded in newspaper—and deposited It in the scuttle on the hearth. “The English and their customs!” 

“Scottish, if you please, old chap. My mother was from the Highlands, you know. And it’s shockingly bad luck if the first person of the year to cross the threshold isn’t a tall dark man.”

“Bringing gifts of bread and coal,” Japp added as he buttered his second roll. “My granddad kept up the old customs though he was born in Sussex himself. Haggis once a year on Burns’s Night, and had to have his porridge every morning.”

The Inspector sat with us for an hour as we chatted about the cases on which Poirot had consulted during the year that was past, and then prepared to head into Scotland Yard. 

“Should be a quiet day but your criminal doesn’t always respect holidays,” he informed us as he wrapped himself up once more. “Good morning, Poirot, Hastings.” He paused on the doorstep. “Well, here’s to crime! I wonder what cases the new year will bring?”

“I also wonder, my friend! But since you and mon ami Hastings have secured for us the lucky year, let us hope for cases that are intriguing and clients with, how do you say it, the deep pockets.” 

Japp was laughing as he left and we settled back contentedly to finish our first breakfast of the new year.

**Author's Note:**

> Bonne année: Happy New Year (literally, good year).  
> "First-footing" is one of the many superstitions surrounding New Year's Eve and Day. In Scotland, it's good luck if the first person to cross the threshold after midnight on New Year's Eve, or on the morning of New Year's Day, is a tall dark man. Traditionally the "first-footer" brings gifts of bread, coal or salt.  
> Porridge=oatmeal. Traditional Scottish porridge is made with oats, water and salt.  
> Haggis is a traditional dish made with sheep's stomach. Like marmite, it's a taste you probably won't acquire once childhood has passed.  
> I gave Hastings a Scottish mother just 'cos! but Japp (or Jappie) is in fact a Scottish name.  
> Happy 2018 to all!


End file.
